Chapter 6

(**Sebastion’s POV**)

I choked on my bite of pasta when Irina asked me about Jace’s kidnapping. I will hide no information from her, I was just unprepared for her to ask me that now. Although I guess now is a good enough time for some of those personal questions that we are bound to ask each other. I finish chewing, take a sip of water to wash it down, then take a deep breath as I prepare to bare my ugly past to this woman.

“That is a story that starts when I was thirteen, well further back actually, but thirteen was when it all began. I also want to get this out in the open first, Gia the mother of my son, was not my mate.” I say as I close the lid to my pasta. I look Irina in the eyes as I speak, wanting her to see all the emotions that will pass across my face as I tell her this tale.

“Wait, you had a child with someone other than your mate? I didn’t know that was even possible.” Irina slid her lunch to the side so she could focus her full attention on me.

“It is very possible. It just doesn’t happen often, but it happens. Gia was my best friend growing up. I could tell her everything. Then one day it became more,” I looked down at my phone as Arianna sent me a message saying she was back in pack territory.

“You fell in love with her,” Irina said when I looked back up at her.

“Yes, I did. We became lovers and neither of us wanted any other wolf but each other. I knew that one day I would need to find my mate, so my pack would have their Luna, but in my heart it wasn’t something that I wanted. Gia and I agreed that when I found my mate nothing between us would change. My mate would be Luna in name only and Gia would stay as my lover.”

“I am your second chance mate, so does that mean your first mate died before you could find her?” Irina asked me with a sadness in her eyes.

The truth is worse than that. Will Irina hate me when I tell her what I did to Rayne that night? Will she respect me for deciding to let Rayne go when I was given the chance? There is only one way to find out, so I take another deep breath before I tell Irina about my mistakes.

“No, she didn’t die. I left her behind the night I found her, choosing my pregnant lover over my future Luna, and I never looked back.” I looked down at my lap as shame washed over me in waves. I can’t tell her what I said to Rayne that night, at least not now, I am not ready for Irina to hate me.

“To have a second chance mate, your mate dies, how is this possible if she isn’t dead? Unless she rejected you.” Irina asked me in a quiet tone.

“I met her again recently,” I looked back up at Irina, expecting to see disgust in her ice-blue eyes.

It wasn’t there. All I saw in her eyes was curiosity. Well, I will take it. I know when I tell her my more recent actions, she may very well find me disgusting. One day I will bare my soul to her completely. All the dark and selfish corners of my past life.

"Did she reject you because of the choice you made?"

“Yes, she rejected me, but not because of me choosing Gia over her. I had to die to understand why she didn’t want me.”

“What? You died? How are you alive now?” Irina’s eyes widened as she looked at me with concern.

“That brings me back to Gia. I stabbed her in the heart while she shot me with a silver bullet laced with wolfsbane. I died because of the poison coursing through my body.” I say as I lay my large hand over her much smaller one.

That day is still a blur to me. I remember stabbing Gia, the blinding pain, then nothing. Waking up to my sister’s tear-streaked face is not something that I ever want to do again. I will do anything to keep those I love from that kind of pain.

“Damn, Sebastion, what did you do to that woman to have her kidnap her own child and try to kill you?” Irina’s voice harsh with outrage.

I am to blame for everything that happened to my son. There is no way to deny that.

“I refused to make her my Luna. It was the one thing she wanted from me. Gia never loved me. I only learned that recently.”

We spent the next thirty minutes talking about how I learned of Gia’s treachery. Irina’s face was flush with her rage. The sentiment of Gia still living only so others could kill her was becoming a common one. I do not want anyone else to be burdened with Gia’s death. Despite all that she did and the fact that she hated me, I still remember the girl she used to be. The one I knew before the greed corrupted her heart.

“I want to know more about the woman who was your mate. What is her name? Where is she now?” Irina asked me as we cleaned up our long forgotten lunch.

I opened my mouth to answer her, but stopped when the elevator doors opened, revealing both Tori and Gabriel.

This wasn’t good if my head of security was down here. The look on their faces made me stand up and walk to them. Fear was shining brightly in Tori’s eyes. Gabriel was frowning like he was pondering something.

“What is going on Gabe?” I ask when I reach him.

Gabriel reaches one hand up to rub the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes, then sighed before he looks back at me. “This day just keeps getting more and more complex, boss. We have four vampires in the security room waiting for you right now. They claim a woman named Rayne Solas sent them. Three of them haven’s said a word. They just stare blankly at us. The one who delivered the message is a furious-looking man. What the fuck have you gotten yourself into, Sebastion?”

I blinked a few times as I processed what Gabriel just said. Rayne sent four fucking vampires to help? What the fuck are they going to do? Eat all of our enemies? For Goddess’ sake, Rayne, what were you thinking? There isn’t much I can do, so I guess I will have to go up there and meet them. This will be interesting.

My only experience with vampires was a brief one. Morty is the only one I have encountered so far, and he took me by surprise. I had no idea Rayne had friends like him. Now I am torn between being happy she does and being terrified that they are here in my office building. Not one vampire, but four damn vampires.

With a sigh, I turn to look at Irina, then motion for her to join me in the elevator. “Want to go with us to meet four vampires?”

“They will not be the first I have met. Vicktor has tried to capture a few but has failed. Some have abilities that werewolves can’t combat against,” Irina said as she walked towards us.

I so need to learn more about other species if I am going to join this alliance. Not knowing a damn thing about any of them other than werewolves will get someone hurt, or worse, killed. That I can not have. I will need to find someone who can teach me all the things I will need to know. I also would like to pick Irina’s brain on all she knows about the other supernatural species she has encountered over the years.

“Well, it is time to go meet some vampires,” I say as I put my palm on the scanner for the elevator.

Once we reach the first floor, I let Gabriel take the lead as he heads to the security office. This is the second time today that I have dad to come down to this room. The first time I found my second chance mate. With luck, this time will end on a pleasant note too. I wait as Gabriel scans us through the doors, then all I can do is stare.

Four people stand in the room against the back wall, they lock each of their gazes onto the door as I step through. If I didn’t already know that they were vampires, I would think they were human just by looks. I guess they use that to their advantage like werewolves do. They were human once, right? Shit, I have a lot to learn.

I scan their faces as I walk further into the room to allow Gabriel and Irina to follow me in. There are three men and one woman. One man stood just a little in front of the others. He must be their leader, so I give him my full attention. Taking a deep breath to help myself relax, I wall towards him with my right hand extended to shake his.

“Hello, I am Sebastion Drakos,” I say with a voice that is much calmer than how I feel.

He looks at my hand for a moment before he reached out and shakes it. “I am Beckett Hawkins. You are not at all what I had expected.”

Beckett is tall with short dirty blonde hair and a thin frame. He is dressed in a long black duster-style jacked that touched the floor. Underneath he is wearing dark blue jeans, a faded Megadeath t-shirt. That took me a little by surprise. He stared at me with his pale blue eyes for a few moments more before turning to his companions to get them to introduce themselves.

“Ashir.” Ashir nodded his head after he introduced himself. He is taller than Beckett by a foot, with a similar body build. His skin is light brown, eyes like onyx, and black hair up in a topknot. He is dressed in loose black robes and had a large sheath strapped to his back that I can see from the doorway. It looks like it holds something deadly. I would place him as Eastern European decent.

“Ghost.” Ghost spoke in a deep gravely voice. It matched his large bulky frame. He has pale white skin, grey eyes, and long blond hair that reaches his shoulders. He fit what I had always pictured vampires to look like. He is dressed in a grey robe-like jacket loose over his shoulders, with a darker grey suit underneath. The suit looks to be of outstanding quality.

When we get to the woman’s introduction, she motions with her hand to Beckett, then makes more aggressive motions with her hands. I do not understand what she is trying to say.

“Her name is Dominique, but we call her Nic, she does not speak to strangers. Much to our aggravation,” Beckett says as he glares at Nic.

Nic is stunning in her beauty. She is short, much like Irina. Probably five foot even. Her skin is a similar color to Ashir’s, but slightly lighter in complexion. Her long black hair has red highlights streaking through it. Her eyes are a pale golden color, reminding me of honey. She is wearing tight black leather pants, a blood red leather halter top, with a black biker jacket over it. The light in the room flashes off the silver from all the rings on her fingers. Her stare frightens me a little.

The only one of them that was anything like what I expected is Ghost. The other three, I could pass on the street and have no clue of the monster that lurks just under the surface. They could say the same thing about werewolves. Our human form allows us to blend with humans.

“So, what has Rayne told you about what is going on here?”

“That you found your mate, but she is the slave of a Collector. We are here to do recon for you. To get some information on her master,” Beckett says the last part as he looks at Irina.

“His is not my master by choice,” She grounds out.

“Many of them ever are my dear,” Ashir says as he moves away from the wall.

“What is it you think you will find? I never go to where he holds his collection and my daughter. I have no idea where it is,” Irina says. Sadness courses through her and I pick it up through the mate bond.

“We will follow you to meet him tonight, then we will follow him from there to where ever he leads us,” Ghost says as he steps away from the wall.

“How will you do that? Vicktor never travels without his personal guard, who is his driver, Westley. Wes is a werehyena,” Irina says as she walks to the table and sits in a chair.

While they talk, I keep looking at Nic. Something about her bothers me. There is a darkness to her that is setting my nerves on edge. I swear that when I look at her, there are dark shadows behind her that seem to move around her. None of the others have that same darkness, which makes me think it is my imagination, until she looks at me and winks. Then the shadows disappear and she looks normal again.

What the hell is this woman?

“Sebastion? Are you alright?” Irina’s voice brings my attention back to her.

“What? Yeah, I am fine. Why do you ask?” I respond as I look at her.

“We were asking if there is a good place to go for a longer conversation than this room.” Irina looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, we can go to the conference room next to my office. I should have suggested that after the introductions, I am sorry.” I turn to look at Gabriel who just gave a nod and opened the door, holding it open for us all to follow him out.

As we all make our way to the elevator, my mind goes back to Nic. What was that she was doing back there? Was she causing the darkness? Is she part of the darkness? Do they all have similar powers, or do they each have their own abilities? The wink she gave me let me know that she knew it was effecting me and that she thought it was funny.

I am not amused.

I don’t like being toyed. There will be a lot of questions asked when we get to my conference room. I better get answers. This day has become more than I thought it would when I left my house this morning. I was only supposed to come in to get some papers, hire a new personal assistant, and make sure all the additional security measures were working.

Finding my mate and meeting four vampires was not how I planned my day to go.